moonstruck

{Disclaimer for Nick: I would have asked for permission but this will have to be one of those times in my life where I beg for forgiveness if it's not cool that I borrowed this to show off how amazing of a photographer you are. plz tell me if I need to start groveling.} More here. I was browsing his latest when I came across this image and zoned out for who knows how long taking in how pretty it is. Transfixed might describe the feeling.

I have been missing the desert with a ferocity. Wishing like crazy I could be there right this minute without losing my job. Lots to say but I won't go on and on about how much I love sagebrush and sandstone cuz I'll only make myself miserable knowing there's no way to be here and there at the same time. It's hard enough already to not jump in my car and start driving south.

catch up in five minutes or less...

I have five minutes to say whatever it is I have to say today because I have that much time before I'm done with my pb & j {yum!} and then I'm off to sell wedding dresses to the masses. here's some fabric from my latest project {the innovative one I mentioned before}. I'm loving how it is turning out. more to come on that later my friends.

lunch the other day with Bearded M at Big City Soup.He is funny pretty much all the time but especially at lunch. why? I don't know. I think I've eaten out more in the last few months than I ever have in my whole life. I like going to all the cool new places that he knows about. I try to check out the facilities at all the places we go. {another weird quirk to being me} I love restaurant restrooms. Not cuz I think they are the most sanitary places to frequent, but bc they tend to surprise.... no time to explain. g'nite!

Nick and Signe Adams

just a quick little thing. My friends Nick and Signe are featured in Elan Magazine the latest issue and so I wanted to link you up to their blog because I sing their praises constantly and wouldn't want to miss another opportunity to show you the best of the best. Plus, they look smokin' hot! Congratulations guys!!

typos, memos and general mischief

I don't know what has gotten into me. I'm usually so much more bloggerish. It must have to do with the schedule I keep as of late? No. I've always been busy. Maybe I don't have an excuse other than I haven't felt very creative in the writing department, and so the cat suffers.

Rhetoric - a form of writing where you understand and know your audience and move them with your skills. Don't consult Webster on this definition, it is only my lose version of what I think the word means. I have felt for some time now that my blog jitters around on the edge of out of control and not quite in balance with what my original intentions were for it. {I whine about this from time to time, have you noticed?}

I want my anonymity so I feel free to write about whatever I want and not have you worrying about my sanity or thinking that what I have to say is in anyway directly related to what is going on in my life as you may know it on a personal level. If it weren't so daunting I'd start afresh and go about pretending I was writing to a void. {Dear Void...} But secretly I'd be writing to you still, hoping you'd somehow found the new anonymous me, so what's the point?


I'm supposed to be studying things tonight. I've put in a fair amount of time on it but I can only take in so much. I can't {or don't like to} focus on any one thing for long even when it is a subject I enjoy. Le Corbusier and the likes are an interesting bunch. Creative, crazy folk. I've thought sometimes about what it would have been like to live earlier on this green planet when crazy was few and far between and if you had any amount of it, you'd really stick out and shine. There weren't so many avenues to find it, or was there? I don't know for sure but it sure seems like there was more out of this world leaps and bounds movement 'back in the day'. Take Goudi. Dude. The Church of the Sacred Family? Strange stuff.

I definitely think leaving a mark takes a bit of crazy and sometimes I wonder if I keep covering mine up like a rash it'll just shrivel up and die like the proverbial talent.

Especially so when I get assignments like the one we were given today in my studio class. Freaked me out in a good way. To do: Design a space entirely around something 'innovative'. And that is about how broad it is. Really. Two weeks to complete it. Hmmm...

So whilst searching for clues I wandered over to this guy's blog. He's been a favorite for some time, but for whatever reason I've failed to mention any favorite bloggers recently. Remember how I was going to do that kind of thing for awhile, and then I didn't? I apologize. If you were interested then, and I let you down, well, I'll make it up to you now. Deputydog rocks. He's English so he uses words freely that you might cringe at a little so I hesitate to share but I linked you to an older post of 'really cool holes' so browse at your leisure and I think you'll be hooked. Quit his day job to blog about 'things' and he does make 'things' interesting. THIS made me laugh, too. Don't think you'll laugh? Giant babies crawling around on a tower in Prague. Take a peek, dare ya. Design can be funny.


And now, back to it.

loving lately

it's that time again. I'm homesick for those sweet kids tonight so I'll just ramble instead about the things I love:

learning. Can't get enough of it.

I have a friend at CCG Howells who got me an internship for the semester. They are one of the larger design firms in SLC and do both commercial/residential work. I'm more than excited to get some exposure to contract {commercial} design. I've been curious to see if it is something that I'd like to do so here is the perfect opportunity to find out. I have loved residential in the past because I like the emotion that comes with seeing the difference in someone's home, but how cool would it be to design a public space?

the weather. It's warmer this week. I thought about spring today and washed my car in celebration. Not that I'm quite ready to be done with winter {it's growing on me}. Can't deny it tho, I'm still a desert rat.

my mom. {dad too of course, I'm not forgetting you} we had a conversation this week that took me back to being a headstrong brat and it made me realize, again, how cool she is. My mom is the coolest.

the memory of Shon. {said like shawn} He was the coolest snowman I ever met. Eyepatch included. Devin and Cari built him then transported him in a bucket to the deck. It was a sad, sad day when I walked by the window and found Shon, face down with his brains {tennis ball} exposed and his hair all over the place.

selling dresses. can you think of a more enjoyable college job?

eating greek food, waiting in line at the red iguana, office max, the top of a mountain, or the garage with a paint roller in my hand. {just some of my favorite places this week to feel loved.}

perfection

Today was an absolutely perfect day. Ever have one of those? Where you wouldn't change a thing? When days like this come along, I take note.

At the top. {Brighton}

Bearded M is a really good snowboarder. Really. I know he was holding back and could have smoked me. It has been 8 years since I skied tho. Imagine a what if world if I could ski as much as he boards. Due to multiple injury I have decided boarding is my sport only if there is a soft cushion of powder to keep me in one piece.

Skiing with a boarder is ideal. {or maybe it was just the boarder I was skiing with?} They sit down more. Those little breaks are perfect opportunities to look around. Feel the sun. The snow. It really was the most perfect day. Bearded M has that affect on my days. He sings fun songs on the lift, picks all the best runs and laughs at me when I end up with my face buried in powder. Mike and his bench.

serious blogging block

I have serious bloggers block. Sounds serious doesn't it? I have plenty to write about believe me. I just don't know where to begin. It all seems forced or dull and that just isn't the nature of my life right now AT ALL so why write if it isn't reflecting things in the right light?

I'm only trying to write something now because I'm going skiing in the am and I'm wound up about it. I should be sleeping so I can try to keep up with Bearded M but it's like Christmas. Just the thought of being on top of a mountain and flying {that's what skiing feels like to me} makes me want to put my coat on right now and go wait outside the ski shop to rent some gear.

Plenty has been going on. I should be able to tell you a story or two... went to a Jazz game monday night. That was a good time. I'm pretty sure the Jazz won?

Vicky was here, but as far as I know she has gone on to the next stop in her wandering travels. We had fun as always. Lots of rummycube and good times.

Sooo.. to sum it up: Vicky came to town... this semester is laid back and my classes all rock. Work is super busy and fun... Life is good.... I know so because I wake up every morning excited about what I have going on during the day. And that's that.

Where are all my stories?!

What is this?

This is pathetic, that's what this is. Why is it so hard to sleep?!

haul it away, please. let's play rummycube

I was going to post a few more pictures from Korea tonight when I saw this one and was reminded of something I've been mulling over the last couple days.

If you know me at all you know I love to clean. I'm sure you have a couple of stories to back me up on this. I do it when I'm stressed or just for the sheer fun of it.

So then you'll understand my surprise when I realized as I read a story out of a book Frybaby gave me for my bday that the story related to my life. I have what she called a mental junk yard. I guess I'm a sucker for metaphors and can now visualize the nasty corner overrun with dirty slimy stuff called worry. {the storyteller wasn't talking about worry exactly, just mental junk in general.}

A two year worry fest has unceremoniously come to an end today. And not because I've mastered deep cleaning my brain that quickly.

My house was auctioned off today and this move by the bank voids out the second attempt at a short sale to avoid foreclosure.

I can't say this was the end I was hoping for to this saga but the most discernible emotion I feel is relief. I thought the story was going to end differently a few times. I even have a post dated from last January still in draft form where I happily announced that my parents friends were going to buy it from me as a short sale. I decided to hold off on posting the good news until it was final. Seven months later and it fizzled out when the banks counter offer was less than stellar and the realtor told me to hold out for something better to come along. After that low point where I felt like my financial crisis was ruining my life at every turn I decided to get in line for the bankruptcy lawyers. Before I could start the process, a second investor got involved and we've been working on getting their offer accepted up until the last minute yesterday before the auction would void everything and the bank would take over.

I'll stop there with the details. They aren't really the point of the story and I won't bore you with them here.

I'm pretty sure you know I can find a positive in any situation. Given, it might take me awhile. And if you ask me to find something positive while I'm any combination of tired, hungry, or preoccupied I'll struggle with the concept.

But I've found the positive in this situation in all kinds of unexpected places. I'm pretty sure the theme of the last few trials for me has been 'Solving Problems'. But I thrive on this stuff. It's like Rummycube. If you work at it long enough, you can find a way to lay it all out there. Rearrange, get creative, sweat it out. Maybe sometimes you have to take it all back. Admit you got it wrong, pick up your tiles and wait your turn. But eventually it's your turn again and things have changed slightly so that you can you can see it from a new perspective. If only I had that tile last time I would have been able to figure it out. Oh! The life lessons learned while playing that great game, I can relate anything to Rummycube. Go ahead, try me.

I did the rearranging, I worked out all the options and the solution was in the trying.

I didn't get bailed out of my mess, instead I learned the valuable lesson that my net worth has nothing to do with my worth in the sight of God and that I don't value the things that require a credit score, or the status of having a good one.

and as for that worry piled up in the corner? Haul it away, please. Let's play Rummycube.

'Less is more.' - Mies

fantastic way to start 2009

I didn't mention in the last post that I had something huge to look forward to when I got home. That, and a sleeping pill made the trip home fly by.

I discovered Skipe is the best invention known to man whilst away and could call that handsome Bearded M for 2 cents a minute. During one transatlantic chat he asked if I wanted to go to a roar'n 20's party New Years Eve with him to see Royal Crown Revue. Heck yes I did. I love big band music {thanks to Grandpa Awesome} and any excuse to dress up.He offered to find me a costume since I'd have about three hours to spare from time of arrival to the time the party began. I trust the man, he has a wide array of costumes, but searching the world wide web over for a cheap, fun 20's costume was a really fun afternoon spent with my mom while listening to Handle's Messiah. I totally scored when I wandered away from the costume sites and stumbled upon a cheap vintage revival online store.
It also gave me the perfect occasion to wear one of my beautiful Christmas gifts he gave me.

Planning for the night also gave the family something to do one night after I downloaded some of Royal Crown Revue's music. I am a very uncoordinated girl. I don't mind it really, only when it comes to dancing. I wish someone would have forced me to be involved to some degree in formal training. My parents have told me this was out of the question. I was so shy. I want to take lessons now. Better late than never right?

So my dad gave me a crash course in swing one night and we had a blast. He was as patient as he ever is and my mom threw in all kinds of helpful advice. Watching the two of them dance is one of the coolest things too.

Unhelpful things came in the form of Ben videotaping the whole event and when he asked why I cared if I could dance or not I let him know Bearded M used to compete on a dance team, he had a good laugh and told me practice harder!

We were asked to be in the costume contest. We came in 4th.

I had such a great time. Yes, the man can dance. And yes, I tried my best to keep up. I was a little self conscious in the beginning but in the end I wasn't ready to stop when the band played the final song. Royal Crown Revue put on an awesome show.

Troy and Darren were there too, didn't get a picture of Darren but here is Troy looking like a cool cat.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!